Devices and methods for modifying temporally dependent content elements of electronic communications

ABSTRACT

An electronic device includes a wireless communication circuit and one or more processors. The one or more processors are operable to the one or more processors to detect an inability of the wireless communication circuit to transmit an electronic communication that includes one or more temporally dependent content elements. When this occurs, the one or more processors monitor a duration during which the wireless communication circuit is unable to transmit the electronic communication. Later the one or more processors alter the one or more temporally dependent content elements as a function of the duration to obtain a modified electronic communication, which is transmitted from the wireless communication circuit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application from, and thus claimspriority and benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 from, U.S. application Ser.No. 15/068,918, filed Mar. 14, 2016, which is incorporated by referencefor all purposes.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

This disclosure relates generally to electronic devices, and moreparticularly to electronic devices with networking capabilities.

Background Art

“Intelligent” portable electronic devices, such as smart phones, tabletcomputers, and the like, are becoming increasingly powerfulcomputational tools. Moreover, these devices are becoming more prevalentin today's society. For example, not too long ago a mobile telephone wasa simplistic device with a twelve-key keypad that only made telephonecalls. Today, “smart” phones, tablet computers, personal digitalassistants, and other portable electronic devices not only maketelephone calls, but also manage address books, maintain calendars, playmusic and videos, display pictures, and allow users to surf the web.While a wireless communication device used to be a luxury used to maketelephone calls while on the go, many users today consider these devicesas a necessity for keeping up with schedules, communications, and dailylife.

As the capabilities of these electronic devices have progressed, so toohave their user interfaces. While legacy devices generally included onlya physical keypad, more modern devices include sophisticated user inputdevices such as touch sensitive displays and voice recognition systems.Users employ these user interfaces to input communications, calendarevents, messages, and so forth.

Upon entry of such communications, processing issues can occur.Illustrating by example, there are instances where devices fail toprocess, send, or otherwise deliver such communications for variousreasons. Such reasons can include network problems such as a lack ofdata connection or insufficient quality of services. Alternatively, apeer-to-peer networked component may be beyond a local communicationrange. Additionally, even when a device is within a reliable network,heavy network congestion can cause issues in processing communications.

Regardless of cause, delays in processing, sending, or receivingcommunications can have unexpected consequences. For instance,communications that include content with non-specific time referencesthat are based upon a prerequisite specific time can lose there meaning.A text message stating, “I'll be home in ten minutes,” is meaninglesswhen delivered twenty minutes later. It would be advantageous to haveimproved methods and systems for preventing unexpected consequencesarising when issues involving processing or communication of user inputoccur.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate viewsand which together with the detailed description below are incorporatedin and form part of the specification, serve to further illustratevarious embodiments and to explain various principles and advantages allin accordance with the present disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates one explanatory wireless communication device inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates one or more method steps and apparatus components inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates one or more method steps and apparatus components inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates one or more method steps and apparatus components inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates one or more method steps and apparatus components inaccordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates one explanatory method in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates various embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates various embodiments of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Before describing in detail embodiments that are in accordance with thepresent disclosure, it should be observed that the embodiments resideprimarily in combinations of method steps and apparatus componentsrelated to modifying, with one or more processors, one or moretemporally dependent content elements as a function of a duration duringwhich the one or more processors are unable to process, send, receive,or otherwise act upon an electronic communication to transform theelectronic communication to a modified electronic communication. Anyprocess descriptions or blocks in flow charts should be understood asrepresenting modules, segments, or portions of code that include one ormore executable instructions for implementing specific logical functionsor steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included, and itwill be clear that functions may be executed out of order from thatshown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverseorder, depending on the functionality involved. Accordingly, theapparatus components and method steps have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

Embodiments of the disclosure do not recite the implementation of anycommonplace business method aimed at processing business information,nor do they apply a known business process to the particulartechnological environment of the Internet. Moreover, embodiments of thedisclosure do not create or alter contractual relations using genericcomputer functions and conventional network operations. Quite to thecontrary, embodiments of the disclosure employ methods that, whenapplied to electronic device and/or user wireless communicationtechnology, enable devices to modify electronic communications inresponse to network outages, network congestion, or other processingimpediments to eliminate unexpected consequences occurring whencommunications include non-specific time references that are based upona prerequisite specific time.

It will be appreciated that embodiments of the disclosure describedherein may be comprised of one or more conventional processors andunique stored program instructions that control the one or moreprocessors to implement, in conjunction with certain non-processorcircuits, some, most, or all of the functions of modifying temporallydependent content elements as a function of a duration during whichprocessing or communication delays occur to transform an electroniccommunication to a modified electronic communication as describedherein. The non-processor circuits may include, but are not limited to,a radio receiver, a radio transmitter, signal drivers, clock circuits,power source circuits, and user input devices. As such, these functionsmay be interpreted as steps of a method to perform the modification oftemporally dependent content elements as a function of a duration duringwhich processing or communication delays occur. Alternatively, some orall functions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used. Thus, methods and meansfor these functions have been described herein. Further, it is expectedthat one of ordinary skill, notwithstanding possibly significant effortand many design choices motivated by, for example, available time,current technology, and economic considerations, when guided by theconcepts and principles disclosed herein will be readily capable ofgenerating such software instructions and programs and ICs with minimalexperimentation.

Embodiments of the disclosure are now described in detail. Referring tothe drawings, like numbers indicate like parts throughout the views. Asused in the description herein and throughout the claims, the followingterms take the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise: the meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” includesplural reference, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and “on.” Relationalterms such as first and second, top and bottom, and the like may be usedsolely to distinguish one entity or action from another entity or actionwithout necessarily requiring or implying any actual such relationshipor order between such entities or actions. Also, reference designatorsshown herein in parenthesis indicate components shown in a figure otherthan the one in discussion. For example, talking about a device (10)while discussing figure A would refer to an element, 10, shown in figureother than figure A.

As noted above, modern electronic devices include increasinglysophisticated user input devices. As also noted above, due to theirincreased functionality, users are becoming increasingly reliant uponthese electronic devices. In effect, users and their smart electronicsare becoming increasingly interdependent. The users depend on theirsmart devices to help them perform the tasks of daily life moreproductively and more efficiently. At the same time, a smart devicewould merely sit idly on a desk without a person to use it.

While users and smart devices are interdependent, their interactions andmechanisms for processing data are quite different. Users think,communicate, and process data in a fluid, holistic manner, while smartdevices are more robotic in that they break data down to its essentialcomponents and process the same in a logical, step-by-step manner.Illustrating by example, when it comes to indices of time, userscommunicate in natural, holistic expressions of time such as “sometimetoday,” “tomorrow,” “in a few hours,” or “in the next three days.” Bycontrast, smart devices employ highly accurate clocks and timingmechanisms that process data with millisecond precision.

Embodiments of the disclosure contemplate that when a user interactswith the user interface of a smart device, many of the communicationsdelivered to the user interface are in terms of non-specific timeindices that are dependent upon a specific time index. Illustrating byexample, a user might say, “Set a reminder to complete task X in threedays to meet the launch deadline.” This communication includestemporally dependent elements, e.g., “in three days,” that isnon-specific in that it references no specific day. However, the action,i.e., set a reminder, is based upon a specific time, namely, when theuser requests that the reminder be set. Accordingly, the time at whichthe communication is delivered becomes a precedential condition of whenthe reminder—as defined by the non-specific time index—occurs. Otherexamples, include the text message, “Please be at home—Buster will bearriving within the next three hours,” or “set an alarm to wake me up inthirty minutes.” Still other examples will be obvious to those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Embodiments of the disclosure contemplate that many temporally dependentcontent elements, whether included in electronic mail, text messages,multimedia messages, calendaring events, or other communications, dependupon a precedent condition to remain contextually accurate. For example,in the text message “Please be at home—Buster will be arriving withinthe next three hours,” the “three hours” is dependent upon when the textmessage is sent.

Embodiments of the disclosure further contemplate that some of thesecommunications are transmitted to other devices. However, thecommunications can originate and end at a single device, as would be thecase when a smart device performs a web search. Still othercommunications may be between two of the user's devices, e.g., a smartwatch and a smart phone, across a local area or peer-to-peer network.Embodiments of the disclosure contemplate that in each of thesesituations, issues can arise in which communications do not occur whenintended by the user for various reasons. These reasons include theinability to communicate with a network, unsatisfactory quality ofservice, network congestion, or other reasons. Where this occurs, theaccuracy, meaning, relevance, or significance of the temporallydependent content elements can be compromised or lost all together. Ineffect, when messages containing temporally dependent content elementsare processed or communicated later than their precedent condition, thetemporally dependent content elements may either convey incorrectmessage or mislead a receiving party, thereby leading to confusion.

Advantageously, embodiments of the present disclosure prevent unexpectedconsequences arising when issues involving processing or communicationof user input occur. In one or more embodiments, a wirelesscommunication device includes a wireless communication circuit and oneor more processors. The one or more processors are operable to detect aninability of the wireless communication circuit to process or transmitan electronic communication comprising one or more temporally dependentcontent elements. This inability could be due to any of a variety ofreasons, including an inability to communicate with a data work, a lackof network coverage, heavy network congestion, insufficient quality ofservice, or not being within a communication radius with anotherpeer-to-peer device. Other reasons will be obvious to those of ordinaryskill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

In one or more embodiments, when this occurs the one or more processorsare operable to monitor a duration after the inability during which thewireless communication circuit is unable to process or transmit theelectronic communication. The one or more processors can then alter theone or more temporally dependent content elements as a function of theduration to obtain a modified electronic communication. When theinability to process or communicate is removed, the one or moreprocessors can then cause the wireless communication circuit to transmitthe modified electronic communication. Accordingly, a recipient wouldreceive the modified communication in which the modified temporallydependent content elements remain accurate and relevant.

Illustrating by example, in one embodiment a user has a smartphoneconfigured in accordance with embodiments of the disclosure. The userinitiates an outgoing communication using the user interface. Forexample, the user may type a text message that includes a body that hasone or more temporally dependent elements. The message may be to hiswife, stating, “I'll be home in two hours.”

In one embodiment, the one or more processors of the smartphone thenidentify the fact that a temporally dependent component, i.e., “in twohours,” appears in the message. The one or more processors may storesuch references in a data structure along with the exact time when thereferences was entered in the message. Once the message composition iscomplete, the user initiates a send action through the user interface.For instance, the user may tap the “send” user actuation target to sendthe message to his wife.

When the wireless communication circuit is unable to send the message,due to a lack of network coverage, network congestion, and so forth, inone or more embodiments the one or more processors can detect this. Inone or more embodiments, the one or more processors can monitor thewireless communication circuit to determine a duration, i.e., how long,the wireless communication circuit is unable to transmit the message.

Since the delay between the time the user hits the send user actuationtarget and the time the message is sent can impact the temporallydependent content elements, in one or more embodiments the one or moreprocessors modify the one or more temporally dependent content elementsas a function of the duration to transform the electronic communicationto a modified electronic communication. If, for example, the message wasdelayed by thirty minutes, the one or more processors may change themessage “I'll be home in two hours” to the modified message “I'll behome in an hour and a half.” Once this occurs, the one or moreprocessors can cause the wireless communication circuit to transmit themodified electronic communication. Advantageously, the user's wifereceives a message with temporally dependent content elements that arestill relevant despite the delay. Thus, she still knows—withaccuracy—when her husband is coming home despite the fact that herhusband used a non-specific time index in the message.

In another example, consider the case where a user has a smart watchpaired with a smart phone across a peer-to-peer local area network. Nowconsider that the smart watch has a voice controlled user interface thatis operable with an alarm application operating on the smart phone. Insuch a scenario the user may, through the user interface of the smartwatch, deliver a communication stating, “set an alarm for three hoursfrom now.” In so doing, the user's intention is to have the alarmapplication operating in his smart phone actuate an alarm three hoursafter delivering the communication.

However, if the smart phone is not within a predefined communicationrange of the peer-to-peer local area network when the command isdelivered, the alarm may not be set when the command is delivered. If,for example, the user is in his office while the smart phone is in hiscar, the smart watch may not be able to communicate with the smart phonewhen the command is delivered. Accordingly, the command may not bedelivered for another twenty minutes when the user gets into his car todrive home.

Advantageously, embodiments of the disclosure modify the one or moretemporally dependent content elements as a function of the durationbetween which the command was delivered and when the command getsprocessed to transform the electronic communication to a modifiedelectronic communication. Accordingly, the one or more processors of thesmart watch in one embodiment, or the smart phone in another embodiment,detect that there has been a twenty minute delay and change “set analarm for three hours from now” to be “set an alarm for two hours andforty minutes from now.” This modified electronic communication is thenprocessed in the smart phone. Advantageously, when this modificationoccurs, the alarm is still set at the appropriate time rather thantwenty minutes too late. If for some reason the user didn't get in hiscar for four hours, in one or more embodiments the communication wouldnot be processed. Instead, the user would be notified by the smart watchat the three-hour mark that the communication had not been processed.The above two examples are illustrative only. Others will be describedin more detail below. Still others will be obvious to those of ordinaryskill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Turning now to FIG. 1, illustrated therein is one embodiment of anelectronic device 100 configured in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. The electronic device 100 is a wirelesscommunication device equipped to communicate with other electronicdevices across a network. The explanatory electronic device 100 of FIG.1 is shown as a smart phone for illustrative purposes. However, it willbe obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure that other electronic devices may be substituted for theexplanatory smart phone of FIG. 1. For example, the electronic device100 may be configured as a palm-top computer, a tablet computer, agaming device, wearable computer, a media player, or other device.

A user 101 is holding the electronic device 100. A schematic blockdiagram 102 of the electronic device 100 is also shown. In thisillustrative embodiment a display 103 serves as a primary user interface104 and is disposed along a housing 105 of the electronic device 100.The user interface 104 is configured to receive user input from the user101. The display 103 or other user interface 104 can also be configuredto provide visual output, images, or other visible indicia to the user101. For example, the display 103 or other user interface 104 caninclude an organic light emitting diode (OLED) device to render theimages or visible indicia. The display 103 or other user interface 104can include a touch sensor to receive user input. The display 103 orother user interface 104 can also be configured with a force sensor.Where so configured, one or more processors 106 of the electronic device100 can be operable with the touch sensor and the force sensor todetermine not only where the user 101 contacts the display 103 or otheruser interface 104, but also how much force the user 101 employs inmaking the contact.

In one or more embodiments, the electronic device 100 also includes awireless communication circuit 107. The wireless communication circuit107 can include wireless communication circuitry, one of a receiver, atransmitter, or transceiver, and one or more antennas 108. In one ormore embodiments, the wireless communication circuit 107 is capable ofcommunicating with one or more remote devices across a wide areanetwork, local area network, small local area network (piconet), orpersonal area networks.

Examples of wide area networks include GSM, CDMA, W-CDMA, CDMA-2000,iDEN, TDMA, 2.5 Generation 3GPP GSM networks, 3rd Generation 3GPP WCDMAnetworks, 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, and 3GPP2 CDMAcommunication networks, UMTS networks, E-UTRA networks, GPRS networks,iDEN networks, and other networks. Examples of local area networksinclude HomeRF, Bluetooth.sup.™, and IEEE 802.11 (a, b, g or n)networks. Examples of ad hoc peer-to-peer networks include the one-hopand two-hop communication networks, with the former being referred to asa “piconet.”

In one embodiment, the wireless communication circuit 107 comprises alocal area network front end 109 configured as a single integratedcircuit that includes multiple types of local area network communicationprotocols. For example, the local area network front end 109 can includeboth a Wi-Fi circuit 110 and another local area wireless communicationcircuit 111. The Wi-Fi circuit 110 can be configured to communicate viaan IEEE 802.11 protocol, while the other local area wirelesscommunication circuit 111 can be configured to communicate with acommunication protocol other than the 802.11 standard. In someembodiments, only the Wi-Fi circuit 110 will be included. In otherembodiments, only the other local area wireless communication circuit111 will be included. Other configurations of the local area networkfront end 109 will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of this disclosure.

One example of a communication protocol operable on the other local areawireless communication circuit 111 is the Bluetooth.sup.™ communicationprotocol. Where the other local area wireless communication circuit 111comprises a Bluetooth.sup.™ or Bluetooth Low Energy.sup.™ circuit, thelocal area network front end 109 can comprise a combinedWiFI/Bluetooth.sup.™ integrated circuit. While Bluetooth.sup.™ is oneexplanatory communication protocol suitable for use with embodiments ofthe disclosure, embodiments are not so limited. Accordingly, other suchcommunication protocols will be obvious to those of ordinary skill inthe art having the benefit of this disclosure.

In one or more embodiments, the electronic device 100 also includes oneor more processors 106 that are operable with the wireless communicationcircuit 107. The one or more processors 106 are responsible forperforming the various functions of the electronic device 100. The oneor more processors 106 can be a microprocessor, a group of processingcomponents, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASICs), programmable logic, or other type of processing device. The oneor more processors 106 can be operable with the display 103 or otheruser interface 104, as well as various peripheral devices, ports, orconnectors.

The one or more processors 106 can be configured to process and executeexecutable software code to perform the various functions of theelectronic device 100. A storage device, such as memory 112, stores theexecutable software code used by the one or more processors 106 fordevice operation. The executable software code used by the one or moreprocessors 106 can be configured as one or more modules 113 that areoperable with the one or more processors 106. Such modules 113 can storeinstructions, control algorithms, and so forth.

In one embodiment, the one or more processors 106 are responsible forrunning the operating system environment of the electronic device 100.The operating system environment can be configured as executable codeoperating on one or more processors 106 or control circuits of theelectronic device 100. The operating system environment can include akernel, one or more drivers, and one or more layers of a protocol stack.These layers can include an application service layer, a network layer,a physical layer, a protocol layer, an application layer, and otherlayers, such as an anti-collision layer and a transfer layer. Each layercan operate in accordance with one or more activity parameters.

The operating system environment, which is configured as executable codeoperating on one or more processors 106, has associated therewithvarious applications or “apps.” Examples of such applications shown inFIG. 1 include a cellular telephone application 114 for making voicetelephone calls, a web browsing application 115 that allows browsing ofInternet websites, an electronic mail application 116 configured to sendand receive electronic mail, a calendaring application 117 to trackcalendar items, to-do lists, and reminders, and a camera application 118configured to capture still (and optionally video) images. The webbrowsing application 115 may additionally allow the user 101 to searchthe web or the memory 112 of the electronic device 100 for items likecontacts, lists, songs, media, desirous information on persons, places,and things, and so forth. These applications are illustrative only, asothers will be obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art having thebenefit of this disclosure.

The one or more processors 106 can be configured to one or more oflaunch one of the apps and/or enable data communication with one of theapps. In one or more embodiments, the one or more processors 106 areresponsible for managing the applications and all data communications ofthe electronic device 100. Accordingly, the one or more processors 106can be responsible for launching, monitoring and killing the variousapplications and the data communication with the various applications inresponse to receipt of messages, data payloads, and so forth asdescribed above. The applications of the application layer can beconfigured as clients of the application service layer to communicatewith services through application program interfaces (APIs), messages,events, or other inter-process communication interfaces.

The electronic device 100 can include other components 119 that areoperable with the one or more processors 106 as well. The othercomponents 119 can include output components such as video, audio,and/or mechanical outputs. For example, the output components mayinclude a video output component or auxiliary devices including acathode ray tube, liquid crystal display, plasma display, incandescentlight, fluorescent light, front or rear projection display, and lightemitting diode indicator. Other examples of output components includeaudio output components such as a loudspeaker disposed behind a speakerport or other alarms and/or buzzers and/or a mechanical output componentsuch as vibrating or motion-based mechanisms.

The other components 119 can also include various sensors that areoperable with the one or more processors 106. These sensors can includeboth physical sensors and virtual sensors. Physical sensors includesensors configured to sense or determine physical parameters indicativeof conditions in an environment about an electronic device. The physicalsensors can include various combinations of microphones, locationdetectors, motion sensors, physical parameter sensors, temperaturesensors, barometers, proximity sensor components, proximity detectorcomponents, wellness sensors, touch sensors, cameras, audio capturedevices, and so forth. Others will be obvious to those of ordinary skillin the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

By contrast, the virtual sensors do not measure physical conditions orparameters. Instead, they infer context from data of the electronicdevice. Illustrating by example, the virtual sensors may use data from aphysical sensor, or from applications operating in the electronic device100 to infer or detect one or more contextual cues. Similarly, a virtualsensor may consult the calendaring application 117, a contact listapplication, or other application operating within the electronic device100 to determine contextual cues. Other virtual sensors may analyzeother data to infer context, including user profiles, user purchasinghistory, device operating states, energy storage within a battery,application data, data from third parties such as web services andsocial media servers, alarms, time of day, behaviors a user repeats, andother factors. Others will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in theart having the benefit of this disclosure. The virtual sensors can beconfigured as either hardware components, or alternatively ascombinations of hardware components and software components. The virtualsensors can collect and analyze non-physical parametric data in additionto physical data.

In one or more embodiments, the other components 119 include a voiceinterface engine 120. The voice interface engine 120 can includehardware, executable code, and speech monitor executable code in oneembodiment. The voice interface engine 120 can include, stored in memory112, basic speech models, trained speech models, or other modules thatare used by the voice interface engine 120 to receive and identify voicecommands that are received with audio input captured by an audio capturedevice. The voice interface engine 120 can also select and identifytemporally dependent content elements in communications, commands, andother user input. In one embodiment, the voice interface engine 120 caninclude a voice recognition engine. Regardless of the specificimplementation utilized in the various embodiments, the voice interfaceengine 120 can access various speech models to identify speech commands.

In one embodiment, the voice interface engine 120 is configured toimplement a voice control feature that allows a user to speak a specificdevice command to cause the one or more processors 106 to execute acontrol operation. In one or more embodiments, a user can employ thevoice interface engine 120 to deliver, and receive, audible commands andresponses. For example, the user 101 may say, “Set a calendarappointment for lunch at Mac's tomorrow at noon.” In one or moreembodiments, the voice interface engine 120 is operable to process thiscommand to set an event in the calendaring application 117.

In one embodiment, the voice interface engine 120 can further, sometimesin conjunction with the one or more processors 106, select and parsetemporally dependent content elements from temporally independentcontent elements to process the message. In this illustrativeembodiment, the elements “tomorrow” and “at noon” comprise temporallydependent content elements because they reference a time index. Bycontrast, “set a calendar appointment” and “at Mac's” are temporallyindependent content elements because they refer to a command andlocation that are independent of time. The content element “for lunch”can be a temporally dependent content element in that it connotes a timeindex during which lunch is customarily eaten. Thus, in one or moreembodiments, the voice interface engine 120 is operable to select, inconjunction with the one or more processors 106, the one or moretemporally dependent content elements from the temporally independentcontent elements.

In one or more embodiments, the voice interface engine 120 listens forvoice commands that include temporally dependent content elements, andprocesses the commands. In some embodiments, the one or more processors106 will, in response transmit communications to other electronicdevices. However, in other embodiments the one or more processors 106will, in response, return an output to the user 101 locally.

Turning now to FIG. 2, illustrated therein are one or more method stepsusing an electronic device 100 configured in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the disclosure. Beginning at step 201, the user 101delivers a communication 207 to the user interface (104) of theelectronic device 100. At step 201, the user interface (104) receivesthe electronic communication 207. In this illustrative embodiment, thecommunication 207 is an electronic communication configured as a textmessage that states, “Please be at home: Buster will arrive within thenext three hours!” The user 101 can deliver the communication 207 to theuser interface (104) in a variety of ways. For example, the user maytype the communication 207 using one or more user actuation targetsdisposed along the display 103. Alternatively, the user 101 may speakthe communication 207, with the voice interface engine (120) receivingthe communication 207, converting it to text, and presenting it on thedisplay 103 in the form of a text message. Other techniques fordelivering the communication 207 to the user interface (104) will beobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

In this illustrative embodiment, the communication 207 includes one ormore message elements comprising textual data 250. It should be notedthat the communication 207 could include other types of data, includingpictures, videos, or other visual data, aural data such as voice memos,or other types of data. Here, the textual data 250 contains bothtemporally dependent content elements 208 and temporally independentcontent elements 209. The temporally dependent content elements 208include “within the next three hours.” These are temporally dependentcontent elements 208 because they reference a time index, i.e., within apredefined period. By contrast, the temporally independent contentelements 209 include a command, i.e., “please be at home,” a person,i.e., “Buster,” and an action, i.e., “will arrive.” At step 201, the oneor more processors (106), working in conjunction with the voiceinterface engine (120), can receive, from the user interface (104), theone or more temporally dependent content elements 208 along with theremainder of the communication 207.

In one or more embodiments, one or both of the one or more processors(106) and/or the voice interface engine (120) is operable to identifyand select the one or more temporally dependent content elements 208from the temporally independent content elements 209. As noted above, inone or more embodiments to prevent unexpected consequences arising whenissues involving processing or communication of user input occur, theone or more processors (106) can modify electronic communications inresponse to network outages, network congestion, or other processingimpediments to eliminate unexpected consequences occurring whencommunications include non-specific time references that are based upona prerequisite specific time. Accordingly, in one or more embodimentsafter identifying and selecting the temporally dependent contentelements 208 the one or more processors (106) can record, prior to anymodification, the one or more temporally dependent content elements 208from the communication 207 in a data structure (121) stored in memory(112).

At step 202, the one or more processors (106) of the electronic device100 cause the wireless communication circuit (107) to attempt totransmit 210 the communication 207 across a network 211. In thisillustrative embodiment, the network 211 is a wide area network.However, embodiments of the disclosure are not so limited. In otherembodiments, as will be shown below with reference to FIGS. 3-4, thenetwork 211 could be a local area network as well. Other networks willbe obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure.

In this illustrative embodiment, since the communication 207 is a textmessage, it is being sent to a remote electronic device 212. In someembodiments, the communication 207 will be sent across the network 211to the remote electronic device 212 directly. In other embodiments, thecommunication 207 will be sent across the network 211 to a server 213,which forwards the communication to the remote electronic device 212.While these are some examples of how embodiments of the disclosure canoperate, it should be noted that embodiments of the disclosure are notso limited.

Illustrating by example, in other embodiments the electronic device 100may intend the communication 207 to be directed to the server 213 andthen back to the electronic device 100. For instance, if thecommunication had been calendaring data, where the calendaringapplication (117) on the electronic device 100 was hosted “in thecloud,” the calendaring data may have been sent to the server 213 with aresponse communication back to the electronic device 100 indicating thatthe calendaring data had been saved. Alternatively, if the communication207 had been a voice command that initiated a search application hostedin the cloud, the voice communication may have been sent to the server213 with a response communication back to the electronic device 100 withthe search results. Accordingly, it should be understood that thewireless communication circuit (107) of the electronic device 100 cancommunicate with any of a server 213, remote electronic device 212, oritself in accordance with various embodiments of the disclosure.

Embodiments of the disclosure contemplate that there will be situationswhere the wireless communication circuit (107) is unable 214 to transmitthe communication 207. As noted above, there can be any number ofreasons why this inability 214 to transmit occurs. For example, thenetwork 211 may be unavailable to the wireless communication circuit(107). Alternatively, there may be congestion or insufficient bandwidthin the network 211 to transmit the communication 207. If the network wasa peer-to-peer network, the remote electronic device 212 may be out ofrange. These are some examples of why the wireless communication circuit(107) is unable 214 to transmit the communication 207. However, this isnot an exhaustive list. Other reasons why the wireless communicationcircuit (107) has an inability 214 to transmit will be obvious to thoseof ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. Inthis illustrative embodiment, the inability 214 to transmit is due to atechnical failure of the network 211.

It should be noted that the problem causing the inability 214 totransmit can occur at different locations as well. While shown asoccurring between the electronic device 100 and the server 213, theproblem could reside between the server 213 and the remote electronicdevice 212, or at another location, as well.

In one or more embodiments, the one or more processors (106) of theelectronic device 100 are operable to identify one or more networkfailures at least temporarily precluding transmission of thecommunication 207. For example, in this illustration the inability 214to transmit is due to a problem between the electronic device 100 andthe server 213. The one or more processors (106) may be operable toidentify this situation because no acknowledgement message is receivedfrom the server 213. Alternatively, the one or more processors (106) maydetermine from the wireless communication circuit (107) that there is aninsufficient quality of service. Other techniques for identifyingnetwork failures at least temporarily precluding transmission ofelectronic communications will be obvious to those of ordinary skill inthe art having the benefit of this disclosure.

In one or more embodiments, the one or more processors (106) of theelectronic device 100 detect the inability 214 of the wirelesscommunication circuit (107) to transmit the communication (207) at step203. When this occurs, in one embodiment the one or more processors(106) then monitor 215 a duration 216 during which the wirelesscommunication circuit (107) is unable to transmit the communication 207.To prevent unexpected consequences arising when issues involvingprocessing or communication of user input occur, the one or moreprocessors (106) can modify the communication at step 204. Specifically,in this embodiment the one or more processors (106) alter the one ormore temporally dependent content elements 208 as a function of theduration 216 to obtain a modified electronic communication 217. At step205, the one or more processors (106) then cause the wirelesscommunication circuit (107) to transmit the modified electroniccommunication 217.

At step 206, a remote electronic device 212 belonging to another user218 receives the modified electronic communication 217. The one or moreprocessors of the remote electronic device 212 present, on the userinterface 220 of the remote electronic device 212, the modifiedelectronic communication 217.

In this illustration, the duration 216 during which the communicationwas unable to transmit the communication 207 across the network 211 wasone hour. Accordingly, the more temporally dependent content elements208 “within the next three hours” have been changed to modifiedtemporally dependent content elements 219 “during the next two hours.”Accordingly, the other user 218 is still apprised of an accurate timeindex despite the fact that the communication was delayed intransmission by an hour. Thus, if the communication 207 was sent by theuser 101 at two o'clock, despite being delayed by an hour the other user218 still knows that Buster will be arriving prior to five o'clock.

The modified electronic communication 217 can take a variety of forms.In some embodiments, the modified electronic communication 217 will lookexactly the same as communication 207, but with the temporally dependentcontent elements 208 modified to become modified temporally dependentcontent elements 219. Thus, “Please be at home—Buster will arrive withinthe next three hours” would simply read “Please be at home—Buster willarrive within the next two hours.”

However, in one or more embodiments, it may be helpful for the otheruser 218 to understand that there has been a modification from theoriginal message. In the illustrative embodiment of FIG. 2, the modifiedelectronic communication 217 comprises indicia 221 indicating theoriginal electronic communication 207 has been modified. For example,here the indicia 221 includes a struck-through word 223 and an asterisk222 pointing to a footnote 224 that indicates the communication 207 wasmodified. The struck-through word 223 could be used solely, as could theasterisk 222 and footnote 224. Here the two are used in combination forclarity. Note that the struck-through word 223 indicates not only that achange has been made, but what the change was. The footnote 224 takesthis a step further, explaining why the communication 207 was modified.These examples of indicia 221 indicating the electronic communication207 has been modified are examples only, as others will be obvious tothose of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

In one or more embodiments, the communication 207 comprises severalconstituent parts. For example, the communication 207 can include aheader 225, a body 226 comprising message elements, metadata 227, andother components. In one or more embodiments, the modifications to thecommunication 207 as a function of the duration 216 to transform theelectronic communication 207 to a modified electronic communication 217can include modifications to any of these constituent parts. Forexample, as will be shown below with reference to FIG. 5, in oneembodiment rather than modifying the body 226 of the message as was thecase in FIG. 2, the one or more processors (106) of the electronicdevice 100 can modify the metadata 227 instead. In other embodiments,both the body 226 and the metadata 227 will be modified. Otherconfigurations will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of this disclosure.

In one or more embodiments, the other user 218 may wish to have theability of seeing the original message. Accordingly, in one or moreembodiments, in addition to transmitting the modified electroniccommunication 217, the electronic device 100 further transmits theoriginal temporally dependent content elements. In the illustrativeembodiment of FIG. 2, both the modified electronic communication 217 andthe temporally dependent content elements 208 are transmitted to theremote electronic device 212 in a data structure that was stored in theelectronic device 100. Said differently, in this illustrative embodimentelectronic device 100 transmits the data structure (121) comprising thetemporally dependent content elements 208 with the modified electroniccommunication 217, as shown at step 206. If she so desires, the otheruser 218 can manipulate the user interface 220 of the remote electronicdevice 212 to view the original temporally dependent content elements208 as well.

Turning now to FIGS. 3-4, illustrated therein is another one or moremethod steps using an electronic device 100 configured in accordancewith one or more embodiments of the disclosure. In this illustrativeembodiment a user 331 has a smart watch that is paired as a companiondevice 303 to the electronic device 100. The companion device 303 cancommunicate across a local area, peer-to-peer network when theelectronic device 100 is within a limited communication radius 304.However, when one device is beyond this limited communication radius 304from the other, communication will not occur.

Beginning at step 301, the user 331 delivers a communication 307 to theuser interface 305 of the companion device 303. In this illustrativeembodiment, the user 331 delivers the communication 307 to the userinterface 305 by speaking it. One or more processors disposed within thecompanion device 303 convert the speech to text (optionally with thehelp of a remote server), and store the communication 307 in a memory ofthe companion device. In this illustrative embodiment, the communication307 comprises calendaring data 350, in that the user 331 has asked thatan alarm be activated in two hours.

As shown at step 302, the user 331 is out shopping and has forgotten toput the electronic device 100 in her bag 332. Instead, she left theelectronic device 100 at home 440. Accordingly, the electronic device100 is beyond the limited communication radius 304. However, in thisillustrative embodiment the calendaring application (117) within whichcalendaring data is operable runs natively on the electronic device 100.Consequently, the companion device 303 must transmit the communication307 to the electronic device 100 for the alarm to be set.

Since the user 331 is shopping, the wireless communication circuit ofthe companion device 303 is unable 314 to deliver the communication 307during this time. Accordingly, the one or more processors of thecompanion device determine a duration 316 during which the wirelesscommunication circuit of the companion device 303 is unable to transmitthe electronic communication 307. In this illustrative embodiment, theinability 314 of the wireless communication circuit of the companiondevice 303 to transmit the electronic communication 307 comprises anabsence, as shown at step 302, of a companion device, i.e., electronicdevice 100, within a local area communication network defined by thelimited communication radius 304. Since the electronic device 100 is notwithin the limited communication radius 304, the one or more processorsof the companion device 303 then modify, as previously described, theone or more temporally dependent content elements 308 as a function ofthe duration 316 to transform the electronic communication 307 to amodified electronic communication 417.

At step 401, when the user 331 gets home 440, the modified electroniccommunication 417 is delivered to the electronic device 100. In thisillustrative embodiment, the duration 316 was one hour and fortyminutes. Accordingly, the temporally dependent content elements 308 ofthe electronic communication 307 have been modified to become modifiedtemporally dependent content elements 419. In this illustrative example,the temporally dependent content elements 308 of “in two hours” hasbecome modified temporally dependent content elements 419 “in twentyminutes.” Accordingly, the alarm will still sound at the appropriatetime. Note that had the user 331 not arrived home 440 within the twohours, the companion device 303 may have notified the user 331 that thealarm could not be set.

In both the embodiment of FIG. 2 and the embodiment of FIGS. 3-4, it isthe one or more processors of the sending device that make themodification to the temporally dependent content elements as a functionof the duration during which the wireless communication device is unableto transmit an electronic message to transform the electroniccommunication to a modified electronic communication. However,embodiments of the disclosure are not so limited. Embodimentscontemplate that such modifications can be made at other locations aswell. Illustrating by example, turning briefly back to FIG. 2, recallfrom above that an electronic communication 207 can have multipleconstituent parts, including a header 225, a body 226 comprising messageelements, metadata 227, and other components. Embodiments of thedisclosure contemplate that the one or more processors of the electronicdevice 100 can, in one embodiment and instead of modifying the body 226of a communication 207, modify metadata 227 so that another electronicdevice can use the modified metadata to itself modify the one or moretemporally dependent content elements 208 as a function of the duration216 to transform the electronic communication 207 to a modifiedelectronic communication 217. For instance, the server 213 could use themodified metadata modify the one or more temporally dependent contentelements 208 as a function of the duration 216 to transform theelectronic communication 207 to a modified electronic communication 217after receiving the electronic communication 207, but prior totransmitting the modified electronic communication 217 to the remoteelectronic device 212.

In another embodiment, a receiving device can use the modified metadatato modify the one or more temporally dependent content elements 208 as afunction of the duration 216 to transform the electronic communication207 to a modified electronic communication 217. Turning now to FIG. 5,illustrated therein is such an embodiment.

Beginning at step 501, a user 101 delivers a communication 507 to theuser interface (104) of the electronic device 100. In this illustrativeembodiment, the communication 507 comprises textual data 550 and is thesame as in FIG. 2, in which the communication 507 is a text message thatstates, “Please be at home: Buster will arrive within the next threehours!” As before, the textual data 550 includes both temporallydependent content elements 508 and temporally independent contentelements 509, with the temporally dependent content elements 508comprising the words “within the next three hours.” The temporallydependent content elements 508 reference a time index, i.e., with in thenext three hours, which is a predefined time period.

At step 502, the one or more processors (106) of the electronic device100 cause the wireless communication circuit (107) to attempt totransmit 510 the communication 507 across a network 511 to a remoteelectronic device 512 via a server 513. A network error 514 occursbetween the server 513 and the remote electronic device 512.

In one or more embodiments, the one or more processors (106) of theelectronic device 100 are operable to identify the network error 514 ornetwork failure precluding transmission of the communication 507 at step502. When this occurs, in one embodiment the one or more processors(106) then monitor 515 a duration 516 during which the wirelesscommunication circuit (107) is unable to transmit the communication 507.

In this illustrative embodiment, rather than modifying the temporallydependent content elements 508 appearing in the textual data 550 of thecommunication 507 as a function of the duration 516, the one or moreprocessors (106) of the electronic device 100 instead modify themetadata 527 of the communication 507. Illustrating by example, the oneor more processors (106) can modify the metadata 527 to include thetemporally dependent content elements 508 and an indication that theyshould be modified as a function of the duration 516. Alternatively, theone or more processors (106) can alter metadata 527 corresponding to theone or more temporally dependent content elements 508 as a function ofthe duration 516 to provide modified temporally dependent contentelements suitable for inclusion in the textual data 550 of thecommunication 507. Other examples of techniques by which to modify thecommunication 507 obtain a modified electronic communication will beobvious to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of thisdisclosure. At step 503, the one or more processors (106) then cause thewireless communication circuit (107) to transmit the electroniccommunication 507 and the modified metadata 527.

At step 504, the wireless communication circuit of a remote electronicdevice 512 belonging to another user 518 receives the electroniccommunication 507 and the metadata 527. The metadata 527 comprises anindication that a transmitting device, i.e., electronic device 100, wasunable to transmit the electronic communication 507 for a duration 516.At step 505, the one or more processors of the remote electronic device512 then alter the one or more temporally dependent content elements 508of the electronic communication 507 as a function of the duration 516 toobtain a modified electronic communication 517. At step 506, the one ormore processors of the remote electronic device 512 then present themodified electronic communication 517 on the user interface 520. Theresults are shown at step 551.

In this illustrative embodiment, as with FIG. 2, the one or moreprocessors of the receiving device further present indicia 521 at theuser interface 520 indicating the one or more temporally dependentcontent elements 508 have been altered. Here, to show the contents ofthe original message in addition to the modified message, the originaltemporally dependent content elements 508, i.e., “within the next threehours,” is presented on the user interface. However, “three” has beenstruck through with the new adjective “two” placed beside the strikethrough. Additionally, a footnote 524 is provided to explain why themodification was made.

As shown and described in FIGS. 2-5, embodiments of the disclosureprovide an electronic device where a communication is queued due to acommunication problem such as a lack of data connectivity for delivery alater point of time. Depending on when the communication is delivered,an unmodified communication may provide incorrect information. Moreover,an unmodified communication could cause inconvenience and a less thandesirable user experience. Advantageously, embodiments of the disclosuremodify and correct queued and delayed communications as a function ofthe duration during which the communication cannot be delivered.

Embodiments of the disclosure can be used to modify all different typesof communications. In the embodiment of FIG. 2, textual data wasmodified. In the embodiment of FIGS. 3-4, calendaring data was modified.In the embodiment of FIG. 5, metadata was modified. Other examples willbe obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit ofthis disclosure. For example, if the communication is a voice message,the one or more processors may modify aural data by substituting wordsfor words in the voice message. Similarly, of the message is a picture,the one or more processors may modify pictorial elements, e.g., changingthe sky from blue during the day to a dark night sky, as a function ofthe duration.

Embodiments of the disclosure are also applicable to many differentapplications. In one embodiment, one or more processors of an electronicdevice may modify a search request, alarm, or calendaring event wherethe search request, alarm, or calendaring event is modified with theassistance of a server, but where the source and destination are thesame device. For example, if an electronic device uses a server havingvoice recognition capabilities, the device may transmit a search requestto the server to convert voice to text, with the text being deliveredback to the same electronic device. If there were a delay, thiscommunication may be modified in light of a time stamp based on networkconnection delay. However, embodiments of the disclosure could beextended to other applications, including on-line auctions, ecommerceapplications, financial applications, and so forth. Still otherapplications will be obvious to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of this disclosure.

Turning now to FIG. 6, illustrated therein is one explanatory method 600in accordance with one or more embodiments of the disclosure. Beginningat step 601, the method 600 receives an electronic communication from auser interface of an electronic device. In one embodiment, theelectronic communication received at step 601 includes one or moretemporally dependent content elements. In one embodiment, the one ormore temporally dependent content elements comprise an index of time.

In one embodiment, the one or more temporally dependent content elementscomprise one or more message elements. One example of such messageelements comprises textual data. Another example of one or more messageelements comprises calendaring data. In other embodiments, in additionto or instead of temporally dependent content elements or temporallydependent message elements, the electronic communication can compriseone or more temporally dependent content elements comprising metadata.Other examples of temporally dependent content elements will be obviousto those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of thisdisclosure.

The electronic communication can also include one or more temporallyindependent content elements. At optional step 602, in one embodimentwhere the electronic communication also includes one or more temporallyindependent content elements, the one or more processors of theelectronic device select the one or more temporally dependent contentelements from the temporally independent content elements.

At step 603, the method 600 determines a duration during which awireless communication circuit of the electronic device is unable totransmit the electronic communication. At optional step 604, the method600 identifies one or more network failures at least temporarilyprecluding transmission of the electronic communication during theduration. At optional step 605, the method 600 records the one or moretemporally dependent content elements in a data structure.

At step 606, the method 600 modifies the one or more temporallydependent content elements as a function of the duration to transformthe electronic communication to a modified electronic communication. Atstep 607, the method 600 transmits the modified electronic communicationacross a network.

Turning now to FIG. 7, illustrated therein are one or more embodimentsof the disclosure. At 701, a wireless communication device comprises awireless communication circuit and one or more processors operable withthe wireless communication circuit. At 701, the one or more processorsare to detect an inability of the wireless communication circuit totransmit an electronic communication comprising one or more temporallydependent content elements. At 701, the one or more processors are tomonitor a duration after the inability during which the wirelesscommunication circuit is unable to transmit the electroniccommunication. At 701, the one or more processors are to alter the oneor more temporally dependent content elements as a function of theduration to obtain a modified electronic communication. At 701, the oneor more processors cause the wireless communication circuit to transmitthe modified electronic communication.

At 702, the electronic device of 701 comprises a user interface operablewith the one or more processors. At 702, the one or more processorsreceive the electronic communication from the user interface. At 703,the one or more processors present, on the user interface of 702,indicia indicating the electronic communication has been modified.

At 704, the inability of the wireless communication circuit to transmitthe electronic communication at 701 comprises a network failure. At 705,the inability of the wireless communication circuit to transmit theelectronic communication at 701 comprises an absence of a companiondevice within a local area communication network. At 706, the one ormore processors transmit, in addition to the modified electroniccommunication of 701, the one or more temporally dependent contentelements.

Turning now to FIG. 8, illustrated therein are other embodiments of thedisclosure. At 801, a wireless communication device comprises a wirelesscommunication circuit and one or more processors operable with thewireless communication circuit. At 801, the wireless communicationdevice also includes a user interface operable with the one or moreprocessors. At 801, the one or more processors are to receive, from thewireless communication circuit, an electronic communication comprisingone or more temporally dependent content elements and an indication thata transmitting device was unable to transmit the electroniccommunication for a duration. At 801, the one or more processors alterthe one or more temporally dependent content elements as a function ofthe duration to obtain a modified electronic communication. At 801, theone or more processors present the modified electronic communication onthe user interface.

At 802, the one or more processors further to present indicia at theuser interface indicating the one or more temporally dependent contentelements have been altered. At 803, the one or more processors furtherpresent the one or more temporally dependent content elements on theuser interface. Other embodiments will be obvious to those of ordinaryskill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments of the presentdisclosure have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in theart appreciates that various modifications and changes can be madewithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure as set forthin the claims below. Thus, while preferred embodiments of the disclosurehave been illustrated and described, it is clear that the disclosure isnot so limited. Numerous modifications, changes, variations,substitutions, and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure asdefined by the following claims. Accordingly, the specification andfigures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictivesense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within thescope of present disclosure. The benefits, advantages, solutions toproblems, and any element(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, orsolution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as acritical, required, or essential features or elements of any or all theclaims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method in a wireless communication device, themethod comprising: determining, with one or more processors operablewith a wireless communication circuit, a duration during which thewireless communication circuit is unable to transmit an electroniccommunication from the wireless communication device, the electroniccommunication comprising one or more temporally dependent contentelements; modifying, with the one or more processors, the one or moretemporally dependent content elements as a function of the duration totransform the electronic communication to a modified electroniccommunication; and transmitting, with the wireless communicationcircuit, the modified electronic communication; the modified electroniccommunication comprising indicia, the indicia comprising at least astruck-through word; the one or more temporally dependent contentelements comprising one or more message elements of the electroniccommunication, the one or more message elements comprising textual datatransmitted from the wireless communication device to a receivingdevice.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording, with theone or more processors and prior to the modifying, the one or moretemporally dependent content elements in a data structure.
 3. The methodof claim 2, the transmitting further comprising transmitting the datastructure with the modified electronic communication.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, the one or more temporally dependent content elementscomprising metadata of the electronic communication.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, the one or more temporally dependent content elementscomprising one or more message elements of the electronic communication.6. The method of claim 5, the one or more message elements comprisingtextual data.
 7. The method of claim 5, the one or more message elementscomprising calendaring data.
 8. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising identifying one or more network failures at least temporarilyprecluding transmission of the electronic communication during theduration.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from auser interface operable with the one or more processors, the one or moretemporally dependent content elements.
 10. The method of claim 1, theelectronic communication further comprising temporally independentcontent elements, the method further comprising selecting, with the oneor more processors, the one or more temporally dependent contentelements from the temporally independent content elements.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, the one or more temporally dependent content elementscomprising an index of time.
 12. A wireless communication device,comprising: a wireless communication circuit; and one or more processorsoperable with the wireless communication circuit; the one or moreprocessors to: detect an inability of the wireless communication circuitto transmit an electronic communication from the wireless communicationdevice to a receiving device, the electronic communication comprisingone or more temporally dependent content elements; monitor a durationafter the inability during which the wireless communication circuit isunable to transmit the electronic communication; alter the one or moretemporally dependent content elements as a function of the duration toobtain a modified electronic communication; and cause the wirelesscommunication circuit to transmit the modified electronic communicationwherein the modified electronic communication comprises an indiciawherein the indicia includes at least a struck-through word, wherein theone or more temporally dependent content elements comprising one or moremessage elements of the electronic communication, wherein the one ormore message elements comprising textual data transmitted from thewireless communication device to the receiving device.
 13. The wirelesscommunication device of claim 12, further comprising a user interfaceoperable with the one or more processors, the one or more processorsfurther to receive the electronic communication from the user interface.14. The wireless communication device of claim 12, the one or moreprocessors further to present, with the user interface, indiciaindicating the electronic communication has been modified.
 15. Thewireless communication device of claim 12, the inability of the wirelesscommunication circuit to transmit the electronic communicationcomprising a network failure.
 16. The wireless communication device ofclaim 12, the inability of the wireless communication circuit totransmit the electronic communication comprising an absence of acompanion device within a local area communication network.
 17. Thewireless communication device of claim 12, the one or more processorsfurther to cause the wireless communication circuit to transmit the oneor more temporally dependent content elements.
 18. A wirelesscommunication device, comprising: a wireless communication circuit; oneor more processors operable with the wireless communication circuit; anda user interface operable with the one or more processors; the one ormore processors to: receive, from the wireless communication circuit, anelectronic communication from the wireless communication device to areceiving device, the electronic communication comprising one or moretemporally dependent content elements; and an indication that atransmitting device was unable to transmit the electronic communicationfor a duration; alter the one or more temporally dependent contentelements as a function of the duration to obtain a modified electroniccommunication; and present the modified electronic communication on theuser interface wherein the modified electronic communication comprisesan indicia wherein the indicia includes at least a struck-through word,wherein the one or more temporally dependent content elements comprisingone or more message elements of the electronic communication, whereinthe one or more message elements comprising textual data transmittedfrom the wireless communication device to the receiving device.
 19. Thewireless communication device of claim 18, the one or more processorsfurther to present indicia at the user interface indicating the one ormore temporally dependent content elements have been altered.
 20. Thewireless communication device of claim 18, the one or more processorsfurther to present the one or more temporally dependent content elementson the user interface.